Chapter 29
Stowaway
“I knew you had something up your sleeve,” said Ivy. She wasn’t the least bit surprised by Amanda’s suggestion that Nigel pick the assistant’s pocket. In fact she heartily approved and told Amanda it would be a cinch.
They plotted out exactly what they would do. Amanda would create a distraction that would cause the assistant to run out into the hall during a busy time of day, and Ivy and Nigel would “accidentally” run into her. Of course this approach assumed that the woman would have her phone on her, but both Amanda and Amphora had watched her and she never seemed to let the device leave her person. In the confusion the assistant would probably bend down to pet Nigel, who would nuzzle her, relieve her of her phone, and pass it to Ivy.
However when they launched their plan, things went slightly differently from the scenario they’d envisioned. First of all, Amanda caught sight of the Wiffle kid peering at them from behind a corner. She couldn’t tell if he was spying on them or waiting to pounce, and it made her nervous. Then it seemed that the assistant did not, in fact, like dogs, and did not bend down to pet Nigel. Instead, she shrank from him and pushed him away, saying “Ew!” and “Get away!” Amanda was shocked and started to panic. They had to get that phone.
Then out of the corner of her eye she could see Ivy make a subtle gesture, to which Nigel responded by jumping up on the assistant and putting his paws on her shoulders. Needless to say, the woman didn’t like that at all and started flailing in all directions. Nigel slathered her with dog affection until she was protecting herself by holding her arms over her face and he could nuzzle her pocket. When he passed the phone to Ivy, the assistant was still cringing, oblivious to the theft, and with the prize in their possession, Ivy, Amanda, and Nigel ran to the common room (the theme of the day was coffee shop) and sat in the farthest corner to examine it.
“What’s that?” came a voice. Uh oh. It was the Wiffle kid and that nebbish friend of his, Gordon Bramble.
“What’s what?” said Ivy.
“You took something from the cook’s assistant. That dog helped you. I saw it.”
“Yeah, me too,” said Gordon.
“We didn’t take anything. Nigel’s just friendly,” said Ivy. “What is wrong with you, anyway?”
“You stole something and I’m going to tell,” said Wiffle. He was way more annoying than Simon. Simon had wonderful qualities to balance out—dwarf, actually—his bad ones. This kid didn’t seem to have any assets other than his name, and who cared about that?
“Why don’t you use that wild imagination of yours for solving the class project?” said Amanda.
“You don’t understand,” said the boy. “This school has rules. If you break them, you’re cheating.”
“Yeah,” said Gordon.
“We’re not breaking any rules. Go away,” said Ivy.
The boy took out his phone and snapped a picture of the two girls with Nigel. Ivy was holding the cook’s assistant’s phone, which looked exactly like a lot of other people’s.
“I’ve got proof,” said Wiffle. “I’m going to show this to Thrillkill.” He stuck the picture in front of them and waved it around.
“Fine,” said Amanda, ignoring it. “You do that.”
“I will,” he said, and the two boys walked out.
“Boy, is he stupid,” said Ivy. “If he really wanted to get us in trouble, he’d tell the cook’s assistant, not Thrillkill.”
“Yeah, but he might think of that,” said Amanda. “We’d better hurry. Now let me see.” She tapped and flicked, then stopped when she saw something that looked promising. “There’s a text here with a map on it.”
“Good. What is it?” said Ivy.
“The text is blank, but there’s a map showing someplace in London.”
“London? That’s bad. Are you sure there isn’t anything else?”
Amanda looked carefully, enlarging and reducing the size of the picture. “Positive. I’ve got to get there, Ivy.”
“You can’t leave. We’re still on lockdown.”
“I have to go. It’s the only way.” Amanda didn’t like the situation any better than Ivy did. She hadn’t spent any time in London and had no idea where anything was, but there were online maps and they were very good. She was sure she could do it, whatever “it” was.
“What are you going to do?” said Ivy.
“Train,” said Amanda confidently. “I just need to figure out how to get to the station.”
“By the way,” said Ivy, “what’s the assistant’s name?”
“Let me look . . . hm . . . oh here it is.” She scanned the screen. “Mavis Moriarty.”
Ivy was aghast. “Moriarty? As in Professor Moriarty? You’re kidding.”
“Seems to be,” said Amanda. “Wow. I guess they didn’t know when they hired her.”
“No. They couldn’t have. That explains a lot. This is huge, Amanda. You should tell Thrillkill.”
“No. I have to do this myself. He’ll rush in with guns blazing and ruin the whole thing. He’ll get my father killed.”
“This is very dangerous. At least get Simon or Nick to go with you.”
“I don’t want to get them in trouble. Simon is in enough hot water as it is, and I don’t want to put Nick in a bad situation. I’ll be okay. Really I will. Please don’t tell anyone. I’ll be expelled.” Suddenly it occurred to her that it actually mattered if she couldn’t attend Legatum anymore. When had she crossed over to the dark side?
“I’m going to worry about you,” said Ivy.
“I’ve got a backup plan,” said Amanda. “Things will be fine. Just keep your phone charged up. I’ll text you. Can you get the phone back into the assistant’s pocket as soon as possible? If she finds out it’s missing we’ll be in big trouble. Bigger than that stupid Wiffle kid even knows.”
“Yes. No problem. But please be careful.”
“I will. I’m going to leave first thing tomorrow.” She kissed Ivy on the cheek and gave Nigel a pat.
Amanda Lester and the Pink Sugar Conspiracy Page 73